Racing at the FASTEST 5KM Event in the UK | Podium Festival

Some of the fastest athletes in the UK (and further afield) come to race at the Podium Festival 5KM Event; a running event unlike any other I’ve been to. Seeing such elite talent on display throughout the day was quality (even though my race didn’t go so well).

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A 13 minute 19c 5K for the blos and a 14 minute 59 second 5K for the females ble for the line e just what what even is that last weekend I got to go to one of the fastest 5 km events on the calendar I got to run and

Spectate throughout the day and I thought because it was a really unique event I’ve never been to anything like that before I thought I’d do a little bit of a video just breaking down the event what happened and all that stuff cuz it was sick the event is called

Podium festival and in a nutshell is a onday festival of running so to speak that consists of 12 5 km races that each gradually get quicker and quicker throughout the day into the night when the elite men and women are racing now I’m pretty sure they do this

Event a few times a year in different locations but the one I went to was at Leicester College I think it was and they setup is pretty decent so it’s on a Big Field situated uh in the middle of a 1 km cycle track I think it is so the

Race is all take place around this cycle track it’s 1 kilm so it’s five laps each and all the brand stands and The Spectators Etc spread out throughout uh this field watching so what makes this event interesting is it is designed for Rapid people basically so there is a

Junior race first off and then there’s the open race which is the event I run in where you don’t need a qualify in time uh to run in but then after that the first race starts at sub 18 minutes for the 5K and it works its way all the

Way up to the Elites at the end so you get a load of Club Runners and just really quick Don out there running this race because it’s a super flat course and it’s made to get quick time basically there’s a lot of people there racing to get PB after their winter

Training block and because of that it attracts athletes from all over the world it wasn’t just domestic athletes there there was people from Continental Europe even people from Africa there’s a few uh Kenyans in Ethiopia there let me get the list up and I’ll read some of

The names out in the credentials people like will Baro Abby Donnelly Hannah nuttle Jake Whitman who was the 1500 meter world champion 2022 Caroline Yaga who was the African 10,000 meter Champion hagos G who is an Olympic medalist and loads of other credentials as well basically what I’m saying is the

Fields were absolutely stacked this wasn’t just your average Park room so I went with Garmin who were the official time sponsors of the event but because it was an event organized by sport shoes they had loads of brand STS from all the players in the game so aex New Balance

Adidas sock each name but a few so I got there picked up my race bib had a gander around all the brand stands just to see what the crack was caught up with some of the people from the brands and then it was time for the most important race

Of the day the open race that I was partaking in so the funny thing about this was it is an open race you don’t have to have qualifying time to take part so I knew going into it that I was probably going to come towards the back

End of the race but I thought there would be a few people people there that were slower than me basically so I wouldn’t come dead last that kind of didn’t happen funnily enough so I went into this race hadn’t tapered I’m in the middle of my marathon training block

Legs were slightly fatigued but it was no excuse I gave it a full gas effort on the day the front full gas effort on the day five laps of this track and I finished in a time of 21 minutes 21 minutes for a 5k that’s the second best 5K of my life

Couple of seconds off my PB which is good because I was pleased with it basically uh in the middle of a training week to get a couple of seconds off my PB is a good indicator that my training is working but the funny thing is out of

495 blos who ran that same 5K track as me that day I came 493rd so I had the third slowest time of the day even though I just ran the second best 5K of my life it was it was humbling I have to be honest it was

Humbling when I checked my chip time and saw that I was on the back page third from last that was yeah humbling experience but I was kind of expecting something like that so it is what it is and it’s the taking part that counts you know and I said this on my Instagram

Story someone has to make the other people look good that was my role for the day to make the other people who were rating after me look good and I stepped up to the plate and did that exquisitely so yeah so after my race I

Got into my media vest I had access to a media vest which was pretty cool never had that before so I could go into certain areas that had restricted access just to get better footage and photos and videos of all the athletes that were racing and I just started uh spectating

The races for the rest of the day starting at the sub 18 which were like good track runners and then every half an hour or so there is another event where the time just gets quicker so I think it was sub 18 sub 17 sub6 Etc all

The way up to the elites so another thing that made this event pretty cool is it’s free to spectate so you can come from wherever to watch any of the races there’s no payment required which is a good way to get punters in which in turn improves the atmosphere of the races uh

You know what it’s like at these road races the crowd make a massive difference not only to the people that are actually racing but just the spectacle itself when there’s screaming and shouting involved lights and all that sort of stuff it just makes it more interesting to watch after a couple of

Races about Midway through the day they held a 1 km time trial event which was mint 2 1 go go the format of this was every minute someone gets to send it round the 1 km circuit and the quickest time across the men’s and the women’s takes home two

Grand so they had it set up where the current quickest person was holding like a two grand check then the next person would go and if they won they would come and take the check off their current winner if they didn’t they would just go elsewhere and basically it was like an

Elimination thing so by the end of it the quickest person was holding the two grand check and they got to take that home there was also prizes for second and third as well and it was pretty intense actually there was load of GB athletes taking part in this one and the

Winning times were just let me get them up so yeah the winning time for the BLS that took home the two grand was a guy called James Young who did it in 2 minutes 20 seconds for 1 km that is rapid and then it was for the females

Nike athlete called eron Wallace who did it in 234 again just can’t fathom running that quick for that long it’s just a joke some of these people I saw after some of the efforts that the athletes had given they were shering proper proper efforts like I I

Can’t imagine going that hard that I actually need to throw up it’s just not in my psyche to do it but I guess that’s why I’m not an elite athlete and they are how the front am and after the time traal was done we were now in the

Territory of like seriously quick people I think the races after that started from sub 15 and just got quicker and quicker and the thing that I was most like shocked by is when you see these times on paper like you see someone is going to run a 14 minute 5K obviously I

Can’t fathom that as a runner myself but then when you actually see it in person it is ridiculous how fast these people are going they are going at a pace that I couldn’t even hold for like 400 m they sprinting for 5K and I just don’t get

How they do it they make it look pretty easy easy as well for the most part A lot of them are like gliding they’ve got pristine running technique as well you know what it’s like when you see like a serious Runner and they are making ridiculous Paces just look like a jog in

The park it’s mad and everyone was crossing the Finish Line in the pits you just know they was giving it there all and I love that it was my first time really experiencing top top Runners do their thing and it’s it sounds a bit wanky but it’s impossible not to be

Inspired when you’re watching that sort of stuff cuz you know each and every athlete out there has put in so much time effort and commitment dedication basically to get to that point where they’re running these like 50 minute 5Ks because you don’t just wake up one day

And run a 50-minute 5k you have to commit years and years of graft to get to that point and I respect it so much cuz I know how hard it is to maintain consistency with running for a couple of weeks or months let alone like a lifetime’s worth of commitment or at

Least many years to it we’ve watched all the events up to the elite B at this point and then it was time for the elite a races now these were the races that I personally was most looking forward to just cuz like I said before I’ve never

Experienced this caliber of race in the flesh kicked off with the women’s event first which was at 7:00 I think so by this point the sun had gone down it was dark and it was all lit up around the circuit it looked sick there was a big

Crowd to watch and spectate cheering on off the bat the two African women just broke away like different gravy that stuff and the winner took home the victory in 14 minutes and 59 seconds back for the line e just 14 minutes 59 seconds in the pissing rain on a wet circuit conditions

Probably couldn’t have been worse for the actual people running everyone was soaking at this point through there we are at the m bl’s race was probably even more stacked they had Olympic medalists X world champions cross country Champions like ridiculous athletes just going head-to-head in a 5k

On this sick circuit it was just mint to watch and the winner took home the victory in 13 minutes and 19 seconds 13 minutes and 19 seconds in the 5K that is a 2 minute 49 per kilometer Pace to put that into perspective that is quicker

Than I can run a 400 m in aliens absolute aliens a lot of them but yeah that’s pretty much all I’ve got on the day after that uh cuz it was so wet I just got back in my car and drove back to Manchester but such a good day like

Massive shout out to Garmin for the invite I’m definitely going to be attending a few more of these throughout the year because it was probably one of the best events that I’ve been to in terms of running anyway I’m going to call it a day at that nice one if you

Watch this far and I will see you in the next one